There was no conversations as Anya and prof Birch headed back to the lab, which Anya was grateful for. She wasn't very good at talking to people she had just met unless they had a clear topic to talk about. The treecko was still on her shoulder, though he had gone from a standing position to laying on his belly, and he smiled at her when he caught Anya looking at him.
"Don't get too comfy there mister." Anya warned with an amused expression on her face. The treecko responded by moving so that he draped around her neck and let out a small chuckle. A few minutes later they arrived at the lab and Birch unlocked the doors. Now Anya had some ideas of what the lab would look like (evil scientist lab, uber clean lab) but what she saw was a mess. Bookshelves we stuffed with books and binders, papers were everywhere and the desks were piled with random stuff.
"Ok, lets get right down to business shall we!" Prof Birch said loudly as he hurried to the back of the lab. Digging through a pile of stuff on one of the cluttered desks he pulled out a planner and scanned through the pages. "I would like you to go and meet my son. e's on Rt. 103 today and he'll help teach you some of the basics of being a pokemon trainer." Birch continued as he shut the planner. Anya paused in her inspection of a desk that looked covered with articles and papers on pokemon evolution and what he had said processed in her head.
"Um...Professor Birch...I don't think I could be a trainer." She replied quietly.
"And why not? You seem to have a knack for it." Birch replied curiously. "Look at Treecko for instance. You knew him for a full 5 seconds and he battled for you." He paused for a minute as he thought before nodding. "In fact I want you to have that Treecko as you starter pokemon. You can even nickname him if you want." This left Anya stunned, she had never even considered being a pokemon trainer as a career option. "Really?" She asked tentatively.
"Of course! You already have his pokeball so go on! As I said my son, Brendan, is on Rt. 103. See you soon!" Birch replied before practically shoving her out of the lab and locking the doors behind him. Anya blinked in surprise before recovering and heading back to the town entrance. Pausing she reached up and grabbed the treecko still resting on her shoulders. Holding him under his arms she held him at arms length and looked him in the eye.
"Ok mister, you and me are partners now. This means that we have to work together to keep each safe. Deal?" After getting a nod Anya put him down on the ground. "Now for your name. I can't just call you Treecko forever." Scratching her head Anya pondered on what to call him. Meanwhile treecko decided he wanted back on her shoulder and tried to climb back up. "Stop that." Anya said sternly before coming up with an idea. "I've got it! Your name is now Ike." The newly named Ike looked at her in confusion from his station at her knee. "Ike was the name of an old bird of ours the liked to ride on my shoulder." Anya explained.
"Tree! Kokokokoko." Ike replied happily as he climbed back up to her shoulder. Anya smiled as she waited for him to get settled before heading out to Rt. 103 and towards her first encounter with Brendan.
Sorry about the long wait for this chapter. My laptop got a virus on it and I couldn't use it till my dad fixed it. Since he's so busy it took awhile, though I also started to work full-time at my job so that also delayed this chapter. I'll be better from now on (I hope anyway).